NFL Draft Triple Take (EDGE), March 13, 2022

Matt Williamson, Dale Lolley and Mike Prisuta give you their takes on the top edge rushing prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft in the episode of NFL Draft Triple Take

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of NFL Draft
Triple Take, presented by U P m C. I'm Mike
pursued it from the DV Morning Show and Steelers dot
Com joined us always by Dale Wally of SNR and
Matt Williamson of s n R. Matt and Dale are
the SNRs tag team for the drive, which you can
catch on SNR and other Steelers social media platforms, and

(00:23):
the three of us have been doing this, uh for
a number of This is our second or third year
and I can't tell you how many uh these type
of shows we've done. Yeah. Yeah, we're cranking them out
in our sleep, but we love doing it. Thank you
for finding us uh and giving a listen to what
we have to say in this edition of Triple Take

(00:44):
about edge rushers. Man, this was a fun evaluation and
there's a lot of these guys, uh Man. I guess
just a natural evolution. If college football they're just gonna
throw it all over the yard, then you're gonna rush
the passer and figure out ways to do At football,
defenses are figuring out how to rush the pass or

(01:04):
off the edge. Yeah, and we did the defensive tackle
Triple Take and you mentioned, boy, how freaky those guys
are and you just watch a combine. Well, this group
takes it up to another level. And I think this
is the strongest position in the entire draft. And to
be honest, I think there's eight edge guys that are
gonna deserve first round consideration, and five of them might

(01:27):
even go in the first half of the first round. Yeah,
this is a crazy talented position this year. And and
a lot of times you see these guys and we've
had the kind of project. Well he has he he
has all these measurables, but he didn't have the the
production we've seen some of those guys in recent years.
These guys both had the just ridiculous they displayed at

(01:50):
the combine and also had a lot of production in college.
So it's it's a really fun evaluation. And it wouldn't
surprise me not having seen your guys list before we
we've done this, um the list that you two put together.
If we have about we mentioned about eight guys, as
Matt mentioned in in this talk, in our each of
our top five year. Yeah, it's and and they're really

(02:13):
fun to uh watch the highlights and the way these
guys play with the energy and the amazing closing speed
and aggression that they display. Uh. A lot of teams
are gonna get get fat on defense in this draft.
It's a good year to Nita pass Rushier. Matt. Let's
start with you because you and I have the same

(02:34):
number five. Uh. Georgia guy once removed Jermaine Johnson, the
second of Florida State who left Georgia and then blew
it up for Florida State in the A c C.
I could see watching that Georgia defense why he left
and went somewhere else. But boy, he played with the
Georgia defender type of dominance and production and impact. This

(02:57):
year it didn't he Yeah, And I don't hold it
transfer against him at all. I mean, considering the team
he left, the defense he left. He was a dominant
player for Florida State this year. He may have been
the best player at the Senior Bowl. He's long, he's thick,
he's very physical. He's already a great run defender. I
mean he puts his hands on you and really stuns you,

(03:18):
but can also run around you. A lot of energy,
a lot of physicality from Johnson. And you've got Treyvon
Walker of GEI Yeah, he's one of the guys that
kind of forced Jermaine Johnson to to transfer and and
Trayvon Walker uh two hundred seventy two pounds at the
NFL scouting combine ran a four five. I mean that's

(03:40):
just unheard of. Uh. You know, he had sacks in
both the college playoff games last season and wins over
Michigan and Alabama. You know, so that that's production against
high level competition, and that would be Michigan, Mike, Yeah,
I just I thought you might have forgotten about that.
But he's big enough to take on tackles in the

(04:01):
run game, but he's fast enough to beat them around
the edge. He just turned twenty one in December, which
I think matters. I mean, this is still a young,
ascending player. And you know, you have it's it's a
nice marriage of skill and in athleticism. And you've got Dale,
You've got Jermaine Johnson. Number four, Matt, you went with

(04:21):
David A. Jabo of Michigan, the uh guy from what
is it Nigeria Villa Scotland. I forget his path exactly.
That's the one that's it. That's it, that is and
real quick, I'm gonna I have Trayvon Walker three, who
Dale just talked about, and the Jabo and Walker to me,
I don't know what they don't know yet. I mean

(04:42):
as terms of pass rushers, they don't have really any plan.
They just kind of come off the ball and are
a better athlete than those around them and still make
all kinds of plays. And Ojabo is very raw and
reminds me a lot of oh Way from Penn State
who went to the Ravens at the end of the
for round, except he had yeah, right, like seven four.

(05:04):
He's got all the traits, but he also produced for
in the Big ten where oh wait, didn't um again.
Very flexible, all sorts of multiple clay here and he
plays hard. Yeah. He had two two and a half
sacks against Wisconsin last year. You know, Wisconsin is known
for their offensive lineman. He had to two sacks eaching
games against Michigan State and Penn State last year. I

(05:26):
mean that that's high level production against against well, some
of those are pretty good teams. Yeah, I've got George
carl Off to superdue is my number four. Uh. This guy,
this guy impresses me with athleticism and with power. He
can you can you can walk the blocker back into
the quarterback, actually shove him back into the quarterback. He

(05:47):
can win with speed rush. Uh made a lot of
really reactionary plays, tip picks and blocking kicks and athletic
type of things, a little bit of a history of
past rush superdue. So I went with him there. And
now you guys can tell me where I'm wrong here,
because I've been listening since mid season about how Aidan
Hutchinson is maybe the first overall pick, and uh, he's

(06:09):
at least the first or second overall pick. And uh,
he's the best this, and he's the best at He's
a highmar Trophy runner up guy, and I ain't seen it.
I'm not saying that he is not a very good
player in a group of very good players. But I
almost put him three on my list just on principle. Uh,
you know, great game against Ohio State, three sacks and

(06:30):
that was Michigan's biggest win in ten years. But I
see him as one of many not heading shoulders above
Matt What am I not seeing? No? Agree, It doesn't
shock me that you'd say that considering his on the mater,
But I feel the same way that serious I'm down
the middle on that. I mean, I was, I was
banging the Devin Bus term a couple of years ago.

(06:51):
If I see a player, I see a player. But
I just maybe I heard one too many times how
great this guy is. I don't know. I just it
seems like he got anointed, and that's everybody's story and
they're sticking to it. Yeah, honestly, I have him closer
to Jermaine Johnson or car Loft this than I do
the clear number one, even though he is number one
on my board, and again, this class is awesome, but

(07:13):
he's not Chase Young or a Bosa brother or Miles Garrett. Um. Yeah,
I think he's a very good player. I think he's
safety player. I'm not. I didn't come here. Yeah, I
didn't come in to bury him, but I just to me,
he's one of many, not but one and then everybody else.
That's this entire draft, though, guys, is it not. I mean,

(07:33):
you know, we're still talking about who the number one
overall pick is going to be because there's not a
clear cut number one guy. The one thing I'll say
about Aiden Hutchinson that really stood out to me was
his six seven three uh three cone drill at the
NFL Scouting Combine. It's the third fascist for any player
to combine for any player not not defensive lineman or

(07:55):
edge guys, any player six seventh three is special. M
his first ten yards are really good. In the forty
two he has he does have some burst and things
like that for sure. UM a little bit short armed,
he can play a little high. He's a really good prospect.
But I'm with you, Mike, I don't think he's a
special prospect. Yeah, so I kind of put him three
just to just to put them three. I've got I've

(08:17):
got Cavon Thibodeau from Oregon is my number two. Uh, Dale,
you've got the same guy number two, and Matt, you've
got the same guy number two. And it seemed like
it made a little bit of a ruffle when he
ran at the combine but didn't work out. But man,
I think this guy's really, really good. And one of
the reasons they said he didn't work out at the

(08:38):
combine is he wants to do the linebacker drills and
the defensive line drills at Oregon's pro day. This guy
could be an outside linebacker dropping back, or he could
be an edge rusher. Yeah. I mean, I mean that's
that's really all these guys if you look at them,
because of the size that they had, there aren't any
There aren't any of these two forty pound guys here.
These guys are all two fifty plus. Uh TOI those

(09:00):
two fifty four. Uh, there's a lot of upside there.
He just turned twenty one in December, so again you're
getting a guy who is still ascending as a player.
And Mike, to your point, I think he's best, you know,
playing out a two point stands, you know, sort of
a Steeler outside linebacker type. Yeah. And I brought that
up because I mean, Hutchinson, you're not gonna have him
dropping back. He's coming off to you. He's going forward,

(09:22):
not backward. Uh My Number one, you guys supposed to
have Hutchinson. I picked Treyvon Walker. And here's why I
did it. UHDL you mentioned the ridiculous time in the
forty Here's what Daniel Jeremiah had to say about him
during the combine quote. A creative defensive coordinator is gonna
look at Treyvon Walker and say the world has completely

(09:45):
opened up. You can play him inside, outside, you can
rush him, drop him, you can play him on the ball,
off the ball. You want to be able to give
quarterbacks different looks and not show your hand. A chess
piece like that allows you to play that way. I'm
in Yeah, I don't disagree with it, But to you
guys point earlier, I mean, the difference between number one

(10:06):
and number five in this group really not much, not
much at all. I mean, these guys are all first
round guys and probably top fifteen to eight team pick guys.
I mean, that's what we're talking about here. They're gonna
go quick. Yeah, yeah, it's it's it is the uh.
I guess we're all agree with the strength position of

(10:29):
what is very very deep draft without you know, forget
that there's not that marquee quarterback guy. There's a lot
of talent to be had. Absolutely. I just think that,
you know that. I think defensively, this draft is maybe
a little bit of a game changer. Might not have
the star power of some previous drafts, but you're gonna
be getting guys and you know, into the third and
fourth rounds who have an opportunity to come in and

(10:51):
start right away for a lot of teams. Yeah, Predicting
who next year's defensive Rookie of the Year is gonna
be Is oh Man select with that he used to be.
You comes in the league, I who win it? You know? Likewise,
it would be the same way for the offensive Rookie
of the Year because there's no quarterback. Yeah, are you
guys sure they haven't given that defensive award to Hutchinson yet?

(11:15):
Pretty sure? Yeah? He probably will learn if that's gonna
do it for our Edge Russia analysis, I wanna mind everybody.
You can catch programs such as this one on all
of the Steelers social media platforms, and we're gonna keep
cranking them out right up until the Draft. So, however
and wherever you found us, please continue to do so

(11:36):
until next time. For Matt Williamson and Dale Aally Mike Pursua,
you've been listening, watching, reading, immersing yourself a thousand percent
into the NFL Draft. Triple Take presented by u p
MC